in the earlier court cases or that evidence was insufficient to convict, the court ruled that Knox and Sollecito had not committed the murder and were innocent of those charges, but it upheld Knox's conviction for slandering Patrick Lumumba. After this verdict was announced, Knox, who had been in the United States continuously since 2011, said in a statement: "The knowledge of my innocence has given me strength in the darkest times of this ordeal." In September 2015, the delegate supreme judge, court adviser Mr. Gennaro Marasca, made public the reasons of absolution. First, none of the evidence demonstrated that either Knox or Sollecito was present at the crime scene. Second, they cannot have "materially participated in the homicide", since absolutely no "biological traces ... could be attributed to them in the room of the murder or on the body of the victim, where in contrast numerous traces were found attributable to Guede". References Further reading Books Judicial reports "Corte di Assise di Appello Perugia: On the acquittal of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito.". Claudio Pratillo Hellmann and Massimo Zanetti, (Court of Appeals) Perugia 2011 "La Sapienza to the Corte di Assise di Appello, regarding DNA evidence in the case against Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito". Stefano Conti and Carlo Vecchiotti Court of Appeals Perugia 2011 External links BBC News. Photograph of Via della Pergola 7. The Guardian. "Meredith Kercher", collection of articles. 2007 in international relations 2007 murders in Italy 2000s trials 2010s trials 21st century in Umbria Crime in Umbria Deaths by person in Italy Incidents of violence against women British diaspora in Italy Italy–United States relations Murder trials November 2007 crimes November 2007 events in Europe Overturned convictions in Italy Perugia Trials in Italy Violence against women in Italy